Disposable door for grain cars



United States Patent 3,283,807 DISPOSABLE DOOR FOR GRAIN CARS Lawrence L. Helwig, 233 N. 4th St, Custer, S. Dak. Filed Sept. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 394,246 4 Claims. (Cl. 160348) This invention relates generally to a disposable or temporary door for a freight car and particularly concerns an improved means for mounting such a door across the doorway of the car.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a new and improved temporary doorgfor freight cars which may be readily mounted across the doorway to confine a dry bulk material such as grain within the car and which can be readily removed or opened for emptying the car.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved means of mounting a door of disposable sheet material across a grain car doorway which assures pulling the material to a taut condition.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a disposable door for freight car doorways which is economical to use and yet wherein both the door itself and its securing means are extremely strong and durable so as to withstand the pressures of the car contents.

With these objects in view the invention broadly comprises a panel of heavy paper or cardboard material adapted to span a freight car doorway, and a pair of retainers for securing the side edges of the panel to the car, with each retainer comprising a pair of side by side strips each nailed to the wall one on the outside of the panel to secure the panel and the other on the inside of the panel and last secured to bring the panel to a taut condition.

The above mentioned and still addit-ibnal objects of the invention will be brought to light during the course of the following specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved door secured in position across the inside of a freight car door I IG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1 showing the manner in which the side portions of the panel are secured by the retainers.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, reference characters will be used to denote =like parts or structural features in the different views. FIG. 1 shows the interior of a freight car looking out the doorway 11 formed in the side wall 12. The car floor is denoted by the numeral 14. The doorway 11 is defined at its sides by the anchor posts 15 which are integrally associated with the side wall 12.

The disposable or temporary door which forms the subject matter of this invention is denoted generally !by the numeral 16. It comprises a relatively large sheet or panel 17 of cardboard having the lower portion thereof creased as at 18 leaving a flap 19 for lying along the car bottom 14. The gauge or thickness of the sheet 17 varies according to the material to be held within the car. While other paper doors used heretofore have been provided with horizontally extending reinforcing strips, they are not necessary in the present construction due to the use of heavier cardboard and the tightening means hereinafter described.

The main body of sheet 17 has side edge portions 21 which extend somewhat beyond the flap 19 and these portions are separated from the flap by slits extending along the told 18.

A pair of identical retainer members 22 are provided to secure the panel edge portions 21 to the doorposts 15. Each of these retainers 22, which are of identical construction, is formed of an elongated rectangular board,

preferably of plywood which is arranged to extend upwardly along the side of post 15 facing the inside of the car 10. The board is provided with a central slot 24 extending upwardly from the lower end to a point somewhat below the upper end of the board. The slot accordingly divides the retainer 22 into inner and outer strips denoted at 25 and 26 respectively, with the two strips being connected at their upper ends by a portion 27. The broad headed nails for fastening the retainer strip to the doorposts are denoted at 28.

The door is applied to the car in the manner to be now described. The door sheet 17 is first placed in doorway closing position as shown, with the flap 19 lying on the car floor. The retainer members 22 are then lowered int-o position along each doorpost 15 with the sheet edge portion 21 being received in the slot 24. The retainer strip 25 will be inside of the sheet material 21 relative to the inside of the car 10 and the retainer strip 26 will be outside thereof. The sheet is then manually pulled si-dewise to a fairly tight condition and may be wrapped around the edge of strip 26 before the strip 26 is secured to the doorpost 15 by means of the nails 18.

After both of the strips 26 and their covering panel portions 21 have been secured with the panel 17 in relatively tight condition, the strips 25 will be flexed slightly inward toward the inside of the car by the pressure of the panel. These strips 25 are then secured to the posts 15 by nails 18 pulling the panel 17 to a very taut condition across the doorway. So secured and with flap 19 providing a seal along the lower edge, the door provides a very effective barrier for confining grain, wood chips or the like within the car.

The panel 17 may, of course, be readily slashed and folded to an out of the way position when the car is to be emptied. The retainers 22 are readily mounted on and dismounted from the posts 15. Both the panel 17 and retainers 22 are durable, yet inexpensive and, readily disposable. The door accordingly economically and effectively carries out the aforementioned objectives.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A door for a freight car having horizontally spaced upright anchor posts defining a doorway above the car floor surface which comprises a sheet of heavy cardboard material disposed in vertical position inside of the doorway and having side edge portions disposed one along the inner side of each doorpost, a pair of elongated retainer boards of wood material each having a slot extending longitudinally from one end thereof dividing the board into inner and outer sections for receiving one of said edge portions in the slot with the portion lying outside of the inner section and inside of the outer section, and a plurality of fasteners driven through the edge portion and each section int-o the adjacent doorpost.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said sheet has a flap along its bottom edge lying along the floor of the car.

3. The method of securing a paper door sheet across a doorway of -a iireight car having side defining doorposts which comprises placing a retainer strip between the door sheet and each doorpost, securing the sheet to the retainer strip and the strip to the doorpost at each side of the doorway with the sheet in relatively taut condition, then securing an inner retainer strip to each doorpost inside of the first retainer strip to further tighten the sheet.

4. In a door for a freight car having a floor and side walls and a pair of horizontally spaced doorposts formt i t of the doorpost, a sheet of laminated' paper material disposed in vertical position to extend across the doorway and having a vertical edge portion along'each side to be secured by the retainer at that side of the doorway, the said edge portion extending between the door'post and inner strip, then between the strips and partially around the outer strip, and a plurality of nails extending through each strip and said edge portion into the doorpost.

2; References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

10 P. C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DOOR FOR A FREIGHT CAR HAVING HORIZONTALLY SPACED UPRIGHT ANCHOR POSTS DEFINING A DOORWAY ABOVE THE CAR FLOOR SURFACE WHICH COMPRISES A SHEET OF HEAVY CARDBOARD MATERIAL DISPOSED IN VERTICAL POSITION INSIDE OF THE DOORWAY AND HAVING SIDE EDGE PORTIONS DISPOSED ONE ALONG THE INNER SIDE OF EACH DOORPOST, A PAIR OF ELONGATED RETAINER BOARDS OF WOOD MATERIAL EACH HAVING A SLOT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY FROM ONE END THEREOF DIVIDING THE BOARD INTO INNER AND OUTER SECTIONS FOR RECEIVING ONE OF SAID EDGE PORTIONS IN THE SLOT WITH THE PORTION LYING OUTSIDE OF THE INNER SECTION AND INSIDE OF THE OUTER SECTION, AND A PLURALITY OF FASTENERS DRIVEN THROUGH THE EDGE PORTION AND EACH SECTION INTO THE ADJACENT DOOPPOST. 